Washington ACLU rolls double in three years

SEATTLE – The American Civil Liberties Union is experiencing record-high membership, and membership in the Washington state chapter has increased at a greater rate than any other state in the country.

The state chapter’s membership jumped from 10,000 to nearly 20,000 between 2001 and 2004 — an increase the group largely attributes to a backlash against the Patriot Act.

The act expanded the government’s surveillance and detention powers after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Since its adoption, more than 250 town councils, village boards and city governments across the country have passed resolutions of protest.

Before the act was passed, about 60 invitations a year were sent to the ACLU’s downtown Seattle office from schools and clubs requesting speakers to discuss civil liberties. By 2003, that number had tripled, with most seeking someone to explain the Bush administration’s new homeland security laws.

“It’s because of (U.S. Attorney General) John Ashcroft more than anything else,” said Doug Honig, a spokesman for the state chapter of the organization — a network of lawyers and others dedicated to defending personal privacy, due process and political freedom. “People really feel that their rights are under fire, so for us, these are the worst, but also the best, of times.”

The ACLU — which has 400,000 dues-paying members nationwide — also saw spikes in membership during the McCarthy hearings of the 1950s, the civil rights struggles of the 1960s and the Watergate scandal of the 1970s. But the recent jump in membership has surprised even veteran staff members.

“Whenever the body politic gets uneasy about what the government is doing, we see a rise, but nothing like this, to be sure,” said Jerry Sheehan, who has been a lobbyist with the state group for 21 years.